Angry Arab: I have written before about James Zogby.I have written before about the Muslim and Arab American organizations in DC: how they have become fronts for the polygamous ruling dynasties of the Gulf and/or for Muhammad Dahlan. […] After Sep. 11, I said repeatedly, that if Arab Americans and Muslim Americans were to be ever placed in concentration camps, Zogby would volunteer to drive the busses--provided he is permitted to have his picture taken with the prison guards. Here, he tells you that Rahm Imanuel has been unfairly criticized by Arabs.

Boycotting Israeli settlement products: tactic vs. strategyPolitically speaking, though, and even if distinguishing between produce of settlements and produce of Israel were possible, activists who on principle -- rather than out of convenience -- advocate a boycott of only the former may indicate that they themselves are merely objecting to the Israeli military occupation and colonization since 1967 and have no problem whatsoever with Israel as a state that practices apartheid, or institutionalized racial discrimination, against its own "non-Jewish" citizens and that denies Palestinian refugee rights, sanctioned by the UN. Even if we ignore those other grave injustices committed by Israel, and irrespective of what solution to this entire oppression any of us may uphold, one cannot but recognize the inherent flaws in this argument.When a state X occupies another "state" Y and persistently violates UN resolutions calling for an end to this occupation, the international community often punishes X and not some manifestation of X's occupation! Governments aside, international civil society organizations have repeatedly boycotted entire states implicated in prolonged belligerent occupation, apartheid or other severe human rights violations, and not just parts of those states. Was there ever a movement calling for boycotting the bantustans alone in South Africa? Are there calls for boycotting only the Sudanese army and government officials present in Darfur today? Did any activists for the freedom of Tibet ever call for boycotting only those Chinese products made in Tibet?Forgetting for the moment the fact that it was born out of ethnic cleansing and the destruction of the indigenous Palestinian society, Israel is the state that built and is fully responsible for maintaining the illegal Jewish colonies. Why should anyone punish the settlements and not Israel? This hardly makes any sense, politically speaking. Despite their noble intentions, people of conscience supporting peace and justice in Palestine who accept this distinction are effectively accommodating Israeli exceptionalism, or Israel's status as a state above the law.